Thursday, February 10, 2011

Having plants in a workspace is really beneficial to the employees and the business. Plants bring life into a space and studies have shown that they increase productivity and the overall mood and attitude of the people. However, all too often plants end up making an office look like a disaster.

Plants need to be considered a part of the office design. Many businesses just end up throwing some plants in the corner without really thinking of the design of the workspace.

Let's take a look at some very poor plant placement.

I can appreciate what they were trying to do here which is bring some life into this space but there are way too many plants. They should add some color to the walls, art above the filing cabinets and stick to one plant on the desk.

This tall plant looks terrible in the middle of the table.

This looks like an accident waiting to happen. i can just see all those plants tumbling over the cubicle walls!

All of these plants look like afterthoughts. They are inconsistent, out of control and just plain tacky.

Another problem with workspace plants are the outdated containers. Yes, you might pride yourself that you have been able to keep that ficus alive for 15 years but let's face it, that gold pot died a long time ago!

Time for an update!

Here are some good examples of updated containers:

Plants should be part of the office design. Check out these great examples of how plants add to the feel of the space instead of distract.

The main problem with office plants is taking care of them. Somebody has to be in charge of making sure these plants don't end up looking like this:

Now that's a mess to clean up!

Or letting them take over the office like these:

Now don't think you can get away with having to take care of something by just using fake plants. First off, they look bad and second they collect dust and need to be cleaned often. Also, why would you put fake plants in an office when all the benefits come from having something LIVING in a workspace.

The fake ficus making office appearances for a very long time

One alternative to needy plants is the succulent. Succulents are great for office environments because they do not require very much attention. You only water succulents once every couple weeks.

I love these little plants and would love to have one on my desk!

Or try some bamboo. Another plant that is very easy to take care of.

Now for some really cool stuff. Here are some awesome plant installations that become art in themselves. These require constant care and attention and you must have a professional to design these kinds of spaces.

This is amazing!

I love these "green" walls!

And last of all, check out one plant installation that Studio B Designs did at a local law firm: